Taiwan intends to fight for itself in any armed conflict with China and is unclear as to what countries might stand beside it, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu said (吳釗燮).
In an interview on Friday last week with Sky News Australia, Wu said that Taiwan, with a population of 23 million compared to China’s 1.4 billion, has to defend itself and is not asking other countries to fight for it.
Regarding who might fight alongside Taiwan in the event of a war with China, Wu said: “This is a very good question.”
Photo: CNA
“A lot of people are debating strategic ambiguity or strategic clarity, but to us, we know our own responsibility,” Wu told the news channel from Taipei.
“Taiwan has to defend itself, the people have to defend Taiwan, this country, and we are determined to defend ourselves and we are not asking other countries to fight for Taiwan,” he said.
US President Joe Biden has repeatedly said that US forces would help defend Taiwan, although US official policy remains ambiguous over if and how forces would be dispatched.
Australian Minister for Defence Richard Marles in March said that his country had made no promise to support the US in any conflict over Taiwan as part of an agreement to obtain US nuclear-powered submarines.
Biden and the leaders of Australia and the UK have announced that Australia would purchase nuclear-powered attack submarines from the US to modernize its fleet, amid growing concern about China’s influence in the Indo-Pacific region.
Australian critics of the deal say that the US would not hand over as many as five of its Virginia-class submarines without assurances that they would be made available in the event of a conflict with China over Taiwan.
Asked if Taiwan was destined for war, Wu said: “I certainly hope not.”
“The reason is very clear: War means devastation, not just for the one who got attacked, but possibly also for other countries as well,” he said.
“And therefore, at this moment, even though we see that the tension has been rising and the conflict seems to be more likely and peace is less likely to maintain, but we need to do everything to prevent war from happening,” he said.
Wu said that Taiwan is working to maintain the “status quo” — essentially de facto independence without a formal declaration.
The US remains Taiwan’s closest military and political ally, despite the lack of formal diplomatic ties between them. US defense officials have warned of the potential of conflict in coming years and US forces have been bolstering their presence in Asia, most recently in the Philippines, to respond to such a contingency.
The first two F-16V Bock 70 jets purchased from the US are expected to arrive in Taiwan around Double Ten National Day, which is on Oct. 10, a military source said yesterday. Of the 66 F-16V Block 70 jets purchased from the US, the first completed production in March, the source said, adding that since then three jets have been produced per month. Although there were reports of engine defects, the issue has been resolved, they said. After the jets arrive in Taiwan, they must first pass testing by the air force before they would officially become Taiwan’s property, they said. The air force
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, would pose a steep challenge to Taiwan’s ability to defend itself against a full-scale invasion, a defense expert said yesterday. Institute of National Defense and Security Research analyst Chieh Chung (揭仲) made the comment hours after the PLAN confirmed the carrier recently passed through the Taiwan Strait to conduct “scientific research tests and training missions” in the South China Sea. China has two carriers in operation — the Liaoning and the Shandong — with the Fujian undergoing sea trials. Although the PLAN needs time to train the Fujian’s air wing and
STRIKE: Some travel agencies in Taiwan said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group tours to the country were proceeding as planned A planned strike by airport personnel in South Korea has not affected group tours to the country from Taiwan, travel agencies said yesterday. They added that they were closely monitoring the situation. Personnel at 15 airports, including Seoul’s Incheon and Gimpo airports, are to go on strike. They announced at a news conference on Tuesday that the strike would begin on Friday next week and continue until the Mid-Autumn Festival next month. Some travel agencies in Taiwan, including Cola Tour, Lion Travel, SET Tour and ezTravel, said that they were aware of the situation in South Korea, and that group
RSS